dean reynolds is in columbus to show us how he did it. dean, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, norah. well his percentage was down from four years ago but 50-48 last night was plenty to win the electoral votes of ohio, all 18 of them, and the seeds of barack obama's victory were really sown about four years ago during his first presidential run when he left in place many staffers, many field offices who really continued to work th state over the next four years, more than 130 field offices across the state. they've dwarfed his opponents footprint. mitt romney had only 39 offices and he shared many of them with the republican national committee. now the president's decision to bail out the auto industry paid big dividends for him. it was a very popular move in a state where one out of every eight jobs is connected to that industry, the fact that the state's jobless rate was at 7% below the national average was another plus for him, and finally, his courtship of the state. he visited 22 times during this year alone, more than any oth